MassDevice.com +3 | The top 3 medtech stories for August 3, 2015

Say hello to MassDevice +3, a bite-sized view of the top three medtech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our 3 biggest and most influential stories from the day’s news to make sure you’re up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.

 

3. CR Bard’s Lutonix wins Medicare reimbursement add-on

C.R. Bard said that angioplasty treatments with its Lutonix drug-coated balloon will now be eligible for add-on payments through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under Medicare’s hospital impatient prospective payment systems.

The add-on payment, with a maximum of $1,036, will help cover additional costs for treating patients with the Lutonix during inpatient settings and is slated to go into effect October 1, C.R. Bard said. Read more

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2. Covidien wants Supreme Court to hear appeal in $177m patent spat with Ethicon

Medtronic’s Covidien subsidiary wants the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal in a patent infringement case against Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Endo-Surgery unit over surgical shears.

In December 2014 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a decision granting a $177 million award to Covidien in the U.S. District Court for Connecticut, where Judge Janet Bond Arterton had ruled that Ethicon Endo-Surgery infringed surgical shears patents held by Covidien’s corporate predecessors, Tyco Healthcare and U.S. Surgical Corp. Read more

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1. FDA raises medical device user fees more than 4%

The FDA is raising the user fees medical device makers pay for the safety watchdog to review its products by more than 4%.

The user fees for fiscal 2016, which begins Oct. 1, 2015 are going up 4.2% over the fiscal 2015 fees for both small businesses making less that $100 million annually and for their larger brethren, the FDA’s Center for Devices & Radiological Health said. Read more

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